Collision-Free Formation Tracking of Multi-Agent Systems Under Communication Constraints

Syed A Ajwad (1, 2) , Emmanuel Moulay (3, 4) , Michael Defoort (5) , Tomas Menard (6) , Patrick Coirault (1, 2)

1 LIAS [Poitiers] - Laboratoire d'informatique et d'automatique pour les systèmes [EA 6315]
2 A&S - Automatique et Systèmes
3 XLIM-SRI - Systèmes et Réseaux Intelligents
4 UP - Université de Poitiers = University of Poitiers
5 LAMIH - Laboratoire d'Automatique, de Mécanique et d'Informatique industrielles et Humaines - UMR 8201
6 LAC - Laboratoire d'automatique de Caen

This paper deals with the problem of collisionfree formation tracking of second-order Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) under communication constraints. It is assumed that an agent can only transmit its position to its neighbors at asynchronous and aperiodic discrete time instants. Velocity and acceleration of the agents are not available. Moreover, the dynamics of the leader can be controlled through an external input. Using continuousdiscrete time observers, an output feedback formation controller is designed to drive the agents to a desired formation shape and to ensure that the formation tracks the leader trajectory under directed communication topology. A potential function based mechanism is incorporated into the proposed formation tracking algorithm to avoid collision between agents. The simulation results have shown the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.

Mots clés: Artificial potential function; Continuous discrete time observer; Formation tracking; Nonuniform and asynchronous sampling; Collision avoidance; Control system synthesis; Discrete time systems; Feedback; Mobile robots; Multi-robot systems; Shape; Simulation; Observers; Trajectory; Topology; Output feedback; Multi-agent systems

Domaines: Automatique; Système multi-agents [cs.MA]

Syed A Ajwad, Emmanuel Moulay, Michael Defoort, Tomas Menard, Patrick Coirault. Collision-Free Formation Tracking of Multi-Agent Systems Under Communication Constraints. IEEE Control Systems Letters, 2021, 5 (4), pp.1345-1350. ⟨10.1109/LCSYS.2020.3036809⟩. ⟨hal-03045472⟩